Eva Gruesser

Eva
Gruesser was appointed to the Roger Sessions chair of concertmaster
of American Composers Orchestra in 2000. She has performed throughout
North America, Europe and Australia as soloist, chamber musician and
concertmaster. As first violinist of the Lark Quartet from 1988 to
1996 Eva Gruesser performed on many occasions at Lincoln Center and
Weill Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center and Corcoran gallery in
Washington DC. With the Lark Quartet she won the Naumburg Chamber
Music Award in 1991 and the Gold Medal at the 1991 Shostakovich
International String Quartet Competition in St. Petersburg in 1991.
Following the Shostakovich Competition Ms. Gruesser was invited with
the quartet by Gidon Kremer to play at the Lockenhaus Festival in
Austria. With the quartet she also performed at the Sviatoslav
Richter Festival at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Schleswig-Holstein
and San Miguel de Allende festivals. She has performed as guest
concertmaster with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Brooklyn
Philharmonic Orchestra and was a member of the Da Capo Chamber
Players from 1997 until 2001. Eva Gruesser has collaborated on
commissions with composers Aaron Jay Kernis, Libby Larsen, Penka
Kouneva and Jon Deak. Recently she performed with Lukas Foss at Weill
Hall in his 3 American pieces for violin and piano, recorded Martin
Bresnick's "Bird as Prophet" for violin and piano and Trio
for violin, clarinet and piano and participated in a performance at
the Kennedy Center honoring the compositions of Joan Tower. Eva
Gruesser is a regular guest at many summer chamber music festivals
including the Klangfrühling Schaining where she collaborates
with acclaimed Austian piano duo pianists Eduard and Johannes
Kutrowatz, the Moab Music Festival in Utah, the Kowmung Music
Festival in Australia and Monadnock Music in New Hampshire. Ms.
Gruesser has recorded with Decca/Argo, Arabesque and New World
Records. She played in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for 2 years,
performed as soloist with the BBC Scottish Orchestra and was a
founding member of the Ensemble Modern in Germany. She studied with
Wolfgang Marschner, Ilona Feher, Ramy Shevelov and Zinaida Gilels and
graduated summa cum laude from the Freiburg Hochschule für
Music. Eva Gruesser is also a graduate of the Hannover Hochschule
für Music and the Juilliard School.

Diva
Goodfriend-Koven

Diva
Goodfriend-Koven has performed on both flute and piccolo with all of
the major orchestras and chamber orchestras in the New York City
area. She is active as a teacher and also plays in The Locrian
Ensemble (the mission of the group is to perform music that is no
older than 10 years). She has been a member of American Composers
Orchestra since 1981 which is also when she became a regular
Associate musician with the MET Orchestra. Besides membership in both
the American Symphony and American Ballet Theater, she has attended
and performed at the Bard Music Festival since its inception in 1989.
She has been seen on Live From Lincoln Center performing with the NY
Philharmonic,and has recorded extensively with Orpheus, ACO, The MET
Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and also on numerous commercial
films and sound-tracks.

Joseph Schor

Violinist
Joseph Schor is currently principal second violin of American
Composers Orchestra, and first violinist of the Bennington String
Quartet. Joe is also a faculty member of the Chamber Music Conference
and Composers Forum of the East, having served previously as its
musical director. He has performed as a member of the Franklin,
Tonart, and Silvermine String Quartets, and at Marlboro Chamber
music. Joe was formerly concertmaster of the Denver and New York
Opera Orchestras, and served as principal second violin of the
Festival Casals Orchestra during its many years in San Juan, Puerto
Rico, and for many years, was a member of the New York City Ballet
Orchestra. Joe has taught at Iowa University, Bennington College,
Middlebury College, Windham College, Hartt College, and Peabody
Conservatory, and is an original member of ACO.

John Lad

Violist
John Lad has performed in every ACO regular season concert since
1980. He received his early musical training at the Cleveland
Institute of Music as a violin student of Fred Rosenburg, and later
studied with Bonnie Hampton at Stanford and John Graham at
Stonybrook. He has been active as a freelance orchestral and chamber
musician in New York since the mid-70s, and has been especially
involved in contemporary music. As a longtime member of the Michael
Gordon Philharmonic he toured often in Europe and played many times
at the Bang-on-a-Can marathon concerts in New York.

Since 1975
Lad has been an avid student of taijiquan, a Chinese traditional
health and meditation art. He practices the classic Yang style form
as taught by Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing, and has studied under
Cheng's senior students including Benjamin Lo, Maggie Newman and Tam
Gibbs. In recent years he has also taught taiji, written articles on
the subject and served on the editorial board of Taijiquan Journal.

In 1997 he
became involved in a project that combines his interests in taijiquan
and music when he collaborated with the St. Lawrence String Quartet
in developing the performance of the Sixth String Quartet by R.
Murray Schafer. Entitled Parting the Wild Horse's Mane, the piece
calls for the music to be accompanied by the execution of the 108
postures of the Yang style form in a precisely coordinated way.
Performances have been given at the Theatre de la Ville in Paris and
several other venues in the United States and Canada.

John Lad
received a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Stanford University in
1973, and for more than 25 years has taught undergraduate philosophy
courses at Barnard College.

Maxine Neuman

Cellist
Maxine Neuman's solo and chamber music career spans North America,
South America, Europe and Japan. A grant recipient from the
Rockefeller and Ford Foundations and the National Endowment for the
Arts and a two-time Grammy Award winner, her biography appears in
"Who's Who in the World." She is a founding member of the
Claremont Duo, the Crescent String Quartet, the Vermont Cello
Quartet, Breve, and the Walden Trio, groups with which she has
traveled and recorded extensively.

She has
appeared as soloist before a sold-out audience in New York's Town
Hall in the American premiere of Giovanni Battista Viotti's only
cello concerto, and for Austrophon, she recorded Schumann Cello
Concerto in Count Esterhazy's historic palace in Austria. She can
also be heard in such diverse settings as the Montreux Jazz Festival,
the films of Jim Jarmusch, and with the rock band Metallica. She has
expanded the repertoire for multiple celli and cello and guitar by
arranging and transcribing works from every period.

Distinguished
as a teacher as well as performer, Ms. Neuman has served as a judge
for numerous international competitions. On the faculty at the New
York's School for Strings, she has taught at Bennington College,
Williams College and C.W. Post University. Her cello is a
J.B.Guadagnini, dating from 1772.

John Moses

John
Moses is one of New York City's leading free-lance clarinetists.
Having performed with virtually every musical group in the area, he
is currently the first clarinetist with: American Composers
Orchestra, The New York Pops, The Little Orchestra Society, and The
Westchester Philharmonic.

He has
performed regularly with: The New York Philharmonic, The New York
City Opera, The St. Louis Symphony, The San Francisco Chamber
Orchestra, and The Royal Philharmonic of London. Mr. Moses has been
involved with many Broadway shows including: the new 2002 Oklahoma!,
Titanic, Nine, Into The Woods, Crazy for You,
Jerome Robbins Broadway, and Sweeney Todd. He has also
been featured on over 150 film scores including:You've Got Mail,
Analyze This, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
He has also appeared on: The David Letterman Show, Good Morning
America, Ainsley Harriott and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. A graduate of
Juilliard, he is currently on the faculty at Brooklyn and Queens
College, and has lectured at Yale, Curtis, Eastman, Mannes, and The
Manhattan School of Music. His recordings include works with many
solo artists: Marilyn Horne to Celine Dion, Placido Domingo to Mandy
Patinkin, Wynton Marsalis to Judy Collins, as featured on RCA, Angel,
Elektra, CRI, Varese Sarabande, BMG, and Columbia.

Roberta Cooper

Cellist
Roberta Cooper was a winner of the Artists International Competition,
which sponsored her debut in Weill Hall. She received both Bachelor's
and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied
with Lorne Munroe and Harvey Shapiro. Ms. Cooper was a founding
member of the Wave Hill Trio, in residence at Wave Hill (the
Toscanini estate in Riverdale, New York). The trio also performed in
Boston, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, and toured the Far East.
Ms. Cooper has performed with the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, and has
been a frequent guest artist with the New Jersey Chamber Music
Society and the Emerson String Quartet. She was a featured soloist at
Merkin Hall's centenary celebration of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Ms.Cooper appears regularly with the Berkshire Bach Society with
harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper. She has performed chamber music at the
Aspen, Bard, Cape and Islands, Crested Butte, St.Bart's, Santa Fe,
Marlboro, Kneisel Hall, Mohawk Trail, Montreal, Maverick,
Rockport,Skaneateles and Casals Festivals . Ms.Cooper is scheduled to
record as solo continuo performer on Vox Records this fall.

Michael Roth

Violinist
Michael Roth is a native of Scarsdale, NY and received his early
musical training with Frances Magnes at the Hoff-Barthelson Music
School. He attended Oberlin College and Conservatory, continuing his
studies with Marilyn McDonald. At Oberlin, he won the Kaufman Prize
for violin and First Prize in the Ohio String Teacher's Association
Competition. He completed his Master of Music degree at the
University of Massachusetts where he worked with the distinguished
American violinist and pedagogue Charles Treger and was a recipient
of the Julian Olevsky Award. Mr. Roth is currently a member of
American Composers Orchestra, the New York Chamber Symphony,
Philharmonia Virtuosi, the EOS Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival
Orchestra, the Orchestra of the American Ballet Theatre, and is
associate concertmaster of the Westchester Philharmonic and Principal
2nd violin of the New York Pops. He has been concertmaster of the
Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra for many years and has often
appeared as soloist there, as well as at the Caramoor and Bard Music
Festivals. He plays with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New
York Chamber Soloists and tours with both groups nationally and
internationally. As a chamber musician, Mr. Roth has collaborated
with artists such as Eugene Drucker, Menahem Pressler, Steven Doane,
Hamao Fujiwara and members of the Brentano, Manhattan and Ying
Quartets, and recently presented a recital ofcontemporary
Cuban solo violin and chamber music in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall
under the auspices of American Composers Orchestra. Mr. Roth has
recorded for the Sony, Angel, Telarc, Decca, BMG, Point Music,
ESSA.Y. and Arbors Music labels.

Raymond Mase

Trumpeter
Raymond Mase enjoys a diverse career as soloist, chamber artist,
orchestral player, and teacher. As a member of the American Brass
Quintet since 1973, he has performed worldwide, premiered countless
new works for brass, and has appeared with the quintet on over
twenty-five recordings. He has contributed his own editions of 16th,
17th, and 19th century brass music on many of the ABQ recordings and
was instrumental in the group's recordings using 19th century
instruments. He is also a founding member of the New York Cornet and
Sacbut Ensemble and the Summit Brass.As soloist,
he has appeared with American Composers Orchestra, Boston Pops,
Moscow Soloists, Naumberg Orchestra, New York Virtuosi, Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra, Summit Brass, at the Bethlehem Bach and Aspen
Music Festivals, and with numerous regional orchestras throughout the
U.S. In 1994, he premiered David Sampson's Triptych(written for Mase)
with American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and recorded the
work for Summit Records in 1998. Henri Lazarof's Summit Concertante,
also written for him, was premiered with the Summit Brass in 1996 and
recorded in June of 1997. He is also soloist on recordings by the
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Summit Brass, the contemporary music group
Parnassus, and on two solo compact discs entitled Trumpet in our Time
and Trumpet Vocalise. As recitalist, he has been heard nationally
with the popular trumpet and organ duoToccatas & Flourishes .

Mr. Mase
serves as co-principal trumpeter of the New York City BalletOrchestra,
American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and has
performed and recorded with many New York based ensembles including
the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln
Center, Speculum Musicae, Orpheus and Musica Sacra. He is Chairman of
the Brass Department at The Juilliard School, on the faculty of the
Aspen Music School, and has served on the faculties of the North
Carolina School of the Arts and the Manhattan School of Music. He can
be heard on over 100 recordings and as soloist on the Deutsche
Grammophon, Summit, Koch, Cambria and MHS labels.

Pat
regularly performed with Cleveland's Hanna, Palace, and Front Row
theatre orchestras, accompanying such musicians/entertainers as Tony
Bennett, Burt Bacharach, Michel Legrand, Henry Mancini, and
Bernadette Peters; participated in innumerable jingle and record
session dates, and performed with Canton Symphony and Ohio Chamber
Orchestra. Relocated to New York in 1982, Pat subbed Broadway pit
orchestras and played in a myriad of rock and roll bands and in the
latin music network, and performed and recorded with downtown
composers Rhys Chatham, Petr Kotik, Ben Neill, and La Monte Young.

His
professional endeavors have evolved into the quieter aspects of
music, working in the performance libraries of major music
publishers, Carl Fischer and C.F. Peters, and as copyist for such
composers as Henry Brant, Lukas Foss, Ulysses Kay, and Elie
Siegmeister, and as librarian to American Composers Orchestra,
Brooklyn Philharmonic and Opera Orchestra of New York.

When not
pursuing his profession, Pat enjoys the company of two cats, Bob and
Dessie. He is an avid bicyclist, gardener and kite flyer.

Lauren
Goldstein Stubbs

Lauren
Goldstein Stubbs is currently Principal Bassoon with the Opera
Orchestra of New York, Riverside Symphony and PDQ Bach orchestra. She
is the Contra Bassoon player in American Composers Orchesta since its
inception, as well as with the Westchester Philharmonic. A member of
the American Ballet Theatre, Parnassus, League-ISCM chamber players
and Principal bassoon with the San Fransisco Ballet New York season
orchestra. Lauren has also performed with the N.Y. Philharmonic and
New Jersey Symphony. She has been a chamber music coach and performer
at the Chamber Music Conference and Composers Forum of the East since
1982 to the present. Lauren has recorded for: CBS,Columbia, CRI,
Telarc, Vanguard and Musical Heritage Society. She lives in Teaneck,
N.J. with her husband and two children.

Raymond
Stewart

Raymond
Stewart is principal tuba of American Composers Orchestra and a
co-founding member of the internationally acclaimed Meridian Arts
Ensemble in New York City. He is also Assistant Professor of Music at
SUNY Fredonia College where he teaches the tuba studio and lectures
in World Music. He received his high school diploma from the
Interlochen Arts Academy, BM from the University of Miami School of
Music, and MM from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Stewart has
performed and/or recorded with numerous diverse musical entities
including the New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, American
Ballet Theatre, Broadway (State Fair, Candide), the
off-Broadway hit Juan Darien, movie soundtracks (Sphere,
Two Family House), TV jingle ads, the Walt Disney World Company,
DURAN DURAN, and has appeared at countless international music
festivals in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. At the age of 19, he was
the featured solo sousaphonist in the international touring company
of the Broadway musical Barnum. Mr. Stewart can be heard on
the Channel Classics, CRI, Argo, and Knitting Factory Works labels,
among others. His principal teachers have included Toby Hanks and
John Stevens.

Susan Jolles

Susan
Jolles is one of the foremost harpists in the United States. A
founding member of the Naumburg Award winning Jubal Trio, she is
presently solo and principal harpist with American Composers
Orchestra, the Little Orchestra Society, Musica Viva, and the Queens
Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she is an associate member of the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and appears with daughter, Renee,
violinist, in the Jolles Duo.

Ms. Jolles
is a frequent guest artist with such groups as the Groups for
Contemporary Music, ISCM, the New York Concert Singers, and the
Mohawk trail Concerts. She was also harpist for many prestigious
organizations no longer active, among them The Contemporary Chamber
Ensemble, The Groups for Contemporary Music, Music Today, and the
Juilliard Ensemble under Luciano Berio and the New York Chamber Symphony.

Susan
Jolles is represented by an impressive discography. Three albums of
French music with oboist Humbert Lucarelli are heard almost daily on
radio stations from coast to coast. Her recording of Henze's
"Carillon, Recitatif, Masque" is used by the composer to
showcase his compositions. Ms. Jolles has performed on two albums
that received Grammy Awards: "Ancient Voices of Children"
(Contemporary Chamber Ensemble) and Dawn Upshaw's first album with
the Orchestra of St. Lukes. Her recordings with the Jubal trio stand
as a rich archival source for emerging composers and performers.

Susan
Jolles' diversity as a musician is exemplified by her collaboration
with Klezmer artist Giora Feidman. Together they performed at many
venues including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln
Center. Many of the pieces from their repertory were recorded for two
albums. She was honored to be part of a documentary about Mr. Feidman
produced by a Hamburg Germany television station.

Since
receiving a Fromm Fellowship in the performance of twentieth century
music in 1963, Ms. Jolles has been recognized as a gifted interpreter
of contemporary music. Such composers as Elliott Carter, Lucian
Berio, George Crumb, and Charles Wuorinen have chosen her to present
their works.

Susan
Jolles is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the
Mannes College of Music. Ms. Jolles has arranged many compositions
for harp, several of which are published by the International Music
Company and Lyra Music. She maintains a studio with her husband,
composers Jerome Jolles, in Forest Hills, NY.

James
Stubbs

Trumpeter
James Stubbs is currently principal trumpet of the American Ballet Theatre,
American Composers Orchestra (co-principal), Brooklyn Philharmonic,
Opera orchestra of New York, and San Francisco Ballet (City Center seasons).
He is an associate member of the Metropolitan Opera, and has performed
with PDQ Bach and the New York City Opera. Mr. Stubbs has recordings
on Recordings with Columbia, CRI, Deutsche Grammophon, Music and Arts,
Kultur, RCA, Telarc, Vanguard, and Vox. He is currently Adjunct Professor
of Trumpet at the College of New Jersey, Trenton, New Jersey, and Orchestra
Personnel Manager for American Ballet Theatre, Opera Orchestra of New
York, and the San Francisco Ballet City Center Season. James Stubbs
lives in Teaneck, NJ, with his wife and two children.

Linda Moss

Linda Moss
graduated with a Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music
where she was a student of Lillian Fuchs. She has participated in the
Marlboro, Aspen, Tanglewood and Santa Fe festivals and spent two
seasons as Assistant Principal Violist with the St. Louis Symphony.

Currently
Ms. Moss performs with American Composers Orchestra, the Westchester
Philharmonic, the New York Pops, the American Ballet Theater
Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and various
ensembles in the New York area. She has been guest artist with the
Atlantic String Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Da Capo
Chamber Players and the Orion String Quartet.

Stephen Hart

Upon
graduation from Ithaca College with a Bachelor's degree in music,
clarinetist Stephen Hart found himself in heavy combat in Vietnam
with the 101st Airborne Division where he received a presidential
citation. Upon returning in one piece from the war, he taught
instrumental music in southern New Jersey for 2 years and then
entered the 2-year graduate program at The Juilliard School where he
was a student of the late Leon Russianoff. Since then, Mr. Hart has
freelanced in New York and besides being a regular member of ACO, he
had performed for many years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
He can be heard on the Met's recordings of Gotterdammerung and
Ewartung. Mr. Hart has played with many NY freelance orchestras
including the Westchester Philharmonic, Orpheus, Little Orchestra
Society, NY Pops and the Orchestra of St. Lukes, to name a few. He
has also performed in several Broadway productions
such as: Sweeny Todd, La Cage aux Folles, Evita, Zorba, Man of La
Mancha, Music Man, and Les Miserables. Mr. Hart was a teaching
assistant to Leon Russianoff for many years and teaches clarinet and
saxophone privately out of his home in New Jersey.

Robert
Biddlecome

Robert
Biddlecome, bass trombonist, is a founding member of American
Composers Orchestra, having been invited to join the orchestra at its
inception in 1977. He has been one of the city's most active
performers since returning to New York after serving as a trombonist
and solo euphonium player with the United States Army Band in
Washington, DC. He has been bass trombonist of the New York City
Ballet Orchestra since 1963 and was bass trombonist of the American
Symphony Orchestra (Stokowski) for 20 years and the Aspen Festival
Orchestra in Aspen, CO, from 1970 to 1999. Other orchestras he was
called to perform with include the NY Philharmonic, the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra, the NY City Opera Orchestra and the Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra.

Also much
in demand as a chamber music performer, Mr. Biddlecome was bass
trombonist of the American Brass Quintet for twenty-eight years. He
also performed regularly with the Group for Contemporary Music at
Columbia University, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble and the Aspen
Contemporary Concerts. He has participated in innumerable first
performances and can be heard on numerous recordings with almost all
of these orchestras and ensembles.

Mr.
Biddlecome is executive director of the American Brass Chamber Music
Association, a former director of Chamber Music America and former
president of the American Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the
Aspen Music Festival administration for more than twenty years,
holding various positions, Associate Dean, Associate General Manager
and was the Festival Orchestra manager for almost 30 years. He has
served on the faculty of Brooklyn College Conservatory, the Mannes
School of Music and the Juilliard School.

Born in
Somerville, New Jersey, Mr. Biddlecome began piano studies at an
early age but was sought after by the school instrumental instructor,
Claude Shappelle, to study, first euphonium, then trombone. After
high school graduation, he decided to continue his trombone studies
with Simone Mantia who encouraged him to apply for Juilliard, where
he auditioned and was awarded a scholarship to study with Roger
Smith. He continued and earned both a bachelors and a master degree
from Juilliard.

Neil Balm

Neil
Balm is principal trumpet of the Mostly Mozart Festival, the New York
Pops, the New York Chamber Symphony, is a member of the New York City
Ballet and American Composers Orchestras, and is lead trumpet in the
hit Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast giving over 400 performances
a year. From 1989-91 Mr. Balm was the principal trumpet of the Canadian
Opera Company. He toured with Peter Frampton’s rock band in the
late ‘70’s and toured and recorded with famed drummer Louis
Bellson.

He made
his solo debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. performing the
Leopold Mozart Trumpet Concerto and appeared as a soloist on the PBS
Live from Lincoln Center series performing the Stölzel Trumpet
Concerto. Mr. Balm has performed Bach’s Second Brandenburg Concerto
over one hundred times, with artists such as Trevor Pinnock, Gerard
Schwarz, and Nicholas McGegan and with the New York Chamber Symphony,
Seattle Symphony, New York Chamber Soloists, New York Virtuosi and many
others in dozens of cities across the U.S. He was a founding member
and subsequently co-director of the Music Today contemporary music ensemble
with percussionist Jonathan Haas. He gave the New York premiere of Ellen
Zwilich's Concerto for Trumpet and gave a recital at Merkin Concert
Hall of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s music.

Mr. Balm made several recordings while he was a member of and arranger
for the New York Trumpet Ensemble and has recorded with the Canadian
Brass (two performing and one as an arranger). He recorded an album
of the music of Kurt Weill with Teresa Stratas, Handel's Let the Bright
Seraphim with Arlene Auger and Harolyn Blackwell’s album, A Simple
Song. He has also recorded Aaron Coplands Quiet City with the New York
Chamber Symphony and Gerard Schwarz and is featured on the award winning
recording of Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Eos Ensemble. Neil
Balm attended the Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor and
Master of Music degrees.